On Tuesday, the United States Patent and Trademark Office granted Google intellectual rights to targeted-ad technology. Such technology would allow the company to take the weather into account when choosing which ads to deliver to smartphone users.

Sensors on the device could provide information about the temperature, allowing Google to display ads for swimming pools if it's above a certain level, or heating systems if it falls below a certain levels to name a few examples. Advertisers could select criteria for which users who meet would be shown an ad for their product.

Also included in this patent was another form of targeted advertising which analyzes background noise and GPS location to send specific ads to users. A user at a theater production could be shown ads for production companies or ticket resellers, for instance.

Though Google does not yet have plans to implement this technology, it has already raised some privacy concerns due to the extent to which it monitors user location and behavior.